Graduate Certificate in Health Administration
The Graduate Certificate in Health Administration provides a broad understanding of the U.S. health care system for those aspiring to healthcare leadership positions, to those newly in a healthcare leadership position, and to those considering applying to the MHSA program. The certificate is accessible to distance learners and can be earned completely remotely.
The Graduate Certificate in Health Administration provides an introduction to the field of health administration. Students will obtain a basic understanding of the U.S. healthcare system and how it operates. This certificate is designed for those aspiring to leadership positions in healthcare, to those newly in healthcare leadership positions, and to those considering a Master of Health Services Administration (MHSA) degree (Master of Health Services Administration, KU School of Medicine Department of Population Health (kumc.edu)). If a student is subsequently admitted to the MHSA program, credits from a completed certificate may upon approval be used towards fulfillment of MHSA degree requirements. All certificate classes are accessible to distance learners.
The certificate will be comprised of four courses taken in the following order:
Summer HPM 810: The Healthcare System (3 credits, online)
The structure and function of the components of the U.S. healthcare system are introduced in the context of the history, values and social forces that influenced its development and evolution. Students gain exposure to the concepts and vocabulary associated with aspects of the system, including delivery (providers, institutions, services), resources (finance, payment, insurance), population and public health, and outcomes (cost, access, quality). Healthcare outcomes from consumer, clinical and societal perspectives are explored.
Fall HPM 825: Financial Concepts in Healthcare Management (3 credits, hybrid)
Introduces the financial and managerial accounting concepts used in health care. This includes financial statement analysis; cost accounting; budgeting; and capital project analysis.
Fall HPM 858: Health and Social Behavior (3 credits, hybrid)
Health care as a cultural and socio-behavioral system is presented. Using research and theory, students explore alternative perspectives on the nature of medicine and healing within comparative health systems, both U.S. and abroad. Students examine at an advanced level how healthcare organizational structures contribute to patient health outcomes and influence employee behaviors. The course reinforces the nature and characteristics of the health professions, particularly medicine and nursing perceptions, and the complex behavioral dynamics of health professionals with organizational leaders.
Spring HP&M 822: Healthcare Economics (3 credits, online)
This course introduces the core concepts from economics to healthcare with a focus on helping health care managers use economic tools in making sound decisions. The demand for health care products, the structure of insurance, and the supply of health care products are examined. Students will apply a variety of economic analyses to health policy and health system issues.
CURRICULUM:
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| HP&M 810 | The Health Care System | 3 |
| HP&M 825 | Financial Concepts in Healthcare Management | 3 |
| HP&M 858 | Organizational Behavior in Healthcare | 3 |
| HP&M 822 | Health Care Economics | 3 |
| Year 1 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Summer | Hours | Fall | Hours | Spring | Hours |
| HP&M 810 | 3 | HP&M 825 | 3 | HP&M 822 | 3 |
| HP&M 858 | 3 | ||||
| 3 | 6 | 3 | |||
| Total Hours 12 | |||||
ADMISSIONS REQUIREMENTS:
- A completed application
- An undergraduate GPA of 3.0 (on a 4-point scale) from an accredited institution
- A letter of reference from a professional colleague or professor
- A personal statement about why the applicant wants to pursue the certificate
- Interview with an MHSA faculty member
Contact for More Information:
Nichole Evans, MHSA Program Manager
Department of Population Health
University of Kansas Medical Center
5001 Student Center– Mail Stop 3044
Kansas City, KS 66160
913.588.1934; nevans2@kumc.edu
The MHSA program is externally accredited by CAHME (Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education) and is required to provide a competency-based curriculum. In this certificate program, students are assessed through a variety of 14 competencies or learning goals.
Interpersonal Communication: The exchange of information, feelings and meanings through verbal and nonverbal means; includes listening well and having an awareness of how one’s messages are being received
Organizational Communication: Ability to effectively communicate within and without one’s organization; includes communications face-to-face, by phone, email or web; includes to superiors, subordinates, peers, customers/clients, etc.
Presentation Skills: Ability to confidently deliver an organized and engaging message that informs, persuades and or motivates the audience; includes content appropriate for the intended audience, good voice projection, appearance, body language, gestures, eye contact; effective visual aids
Writing Skills: Ability to write clearly and concisely; to write from the reader’s perspective; to use appropriate grammar, punctuation and word choice; puts main points upfront; stresses facts over opinion; format and content appropriate to the document type (e.g., email, memo, white paper etc.)
Qualitative Analysis: Understanding the appropriate use of qualitative methods including types of data collection (e.g., focus groups, interviews, observations) and approaches to analyses in order to investigate health care administration issues
Quantitative Analysis: Understanding the appropriate use of quantitative methods and ability to analyze, critique, and or conduct quantitative calculations such as cost analyses, supply and demand analyses, epidemiological measures
Critical Thinking: Ability to gather relevant information and to conceptualize, analyze, synthesize and or evaluate the information in order to take well-reasoned actions, make decisions, reach valid conclusion/solutions and or generate additional relevant questions
Strategic Analysis: Ability to develop an effective business strategy typically using the organization’s self-assessment and environmental scan for SWOT or SOAR
Marketing Analysis: Ability to develop an in-depth analysis of a market’s conditions and characteristics; understands and can use focus groups, surveys, interviews and e-marketing techniques
Financial Analysis: Ability to apply, interpret and explain financial and accounting information; demonstrate goal setting and development of organizational performance measures through financial analyses
Teamwork: Ability to work with others toward a shared goal, participating actively, sharing responsibility and rewards, and contributing to the capability of the team…(can) empathize and create an atmosphere of respect, helpfulness, and cooperation” (Daniel Goleman, Key Step Media); provides constructive feedback, puts aside interpersonal conflicts, appropriately subordinates individual aims to those of the team
Leading and Managing Others: The ability to lead and work effectively with individuals and teams to accomplish planned goals on time and within budget; can prioritize goals and objectives that align with the shared mission, vision and values of the organization; demonstrates management and leadership knowledge and behaviors including empathy, persuasion, goal-oriented teambuilding, influence, and appropriate use of delegated authority and organizational power
Planning and Implementing Improvement: Selecting the appropriate planning and improvement tools for the performance challenge and using a structured approach to implementing and maintaining a change
Personal and Professional Ethics: Demonstrates ethical behavior in words and action including reliability, honesty and accountability; can identify ethical issues and articulate multiple relevant perspectives; can identify and articulate personal values and biases
The Graduate Certificate in Health Services Administration is comprised of the first four classes of the full MHSA degree program and provides foundational health care administration knowledge. Upon completion of the MHSA graduate certificate, the student should be equipped with the following areas of knowledge.
Health Care System:
Recognize/define/integrate the factual knowledge and vocabulary necessary to describe and understand health services delivery in the United States; Discuss/explain/and relate historical perspectives on the evolution of the U.S. health system to the current and potential future systems; Interpret the distinctions among “health”, “health care”, and “medical care”, and “public health” through application of concepts from the social and behavioral sciences; Inventory/evaluate the components of the U.S. health care system, their relationships, and their interactions; Evaluate criteria that can be used to assess health care systems; Compare and contrast the strengths and weaknesses of the U.S. health care system relative to the systems of other nations; project/predict the future of the U.S. health care system and your role as a member of the next generation of health care managers, leaders and consumers.
Economics and Finance:
Persuasively recommend a strategy for solving a complex problem; Interpret health and health care trends; Describe the effects of a shift in demand or supply on an organization; Describe the relationships among cost, quality and access; Differentiate between products and services; Describe various types of health care cost models; Analyze the risks and rewards of common reimbursement mechanisms; Discuss current trends in health care insurance; Understand financial and managerial accounting concepts used in health care; read and analyze financial statement analysis; complete and review cost accounting; organizational budgeting; and capital project analysis.
Organizational Behavior:
Recognize and analyze socioeconomic and cultural impacts on health and illness; Analyze how organizations and groups influence health outcomes; Recognize the impact of culture and values on health care systems and on health care behaviors; Characterize how professionals and managers respond to cultural messages and institutional structures
Technical Standards Requirements:
The following abilities and expectations must be met by all students admitted to the KU-MPH program:
1. OBSERVATION: A student must be able to observe and analyze class demonstrations and field experiences relevant to the disciplines of public health. These disciplines include epidemiology, biometry, environmental health, health program management, and behavior science. Observation necessitates the functional use of the senses of vision and hearing.
2. COMMUNICATION: A student must be able to communicate effectively in oral and written forms with other students, faculty, and preceptors. Use of computers and other technology is imperative to this communication. Effective communication includes the ability to understand assigned readings and lectures, the ability to analyze information, and the ability to present results of such analyses verbally and in writing.
3. MOTOR: A student must have sufficient motor function to attend classes, prepare assignments, give public presentations, and participate in field experiences. Some field experiences in environmental health, for example, include activities at sites (e.g. waste treatment plants, water treatment facilities).
4. INTELLECTUAL-CONCEPTUAL, INTEGRATIVE, AND ANALYTIC ABILITIES: Applicants must be able to read and understand documents written in English. A student must be able to understand and work with measurements, carry out calculations, and engage in reasoning, analysis, and synthesis. Problem solving, the critical skill of public health, demands these intellectual abilities. In addition, a student should be able to comprehend three-dimensional relationships and understand spatial relationships of structures.
5. BEHAVIORAL AND SOCIAL ATTRIBUTES: A student must possess the emotional maturity and stability required for full utilization of his/her intellectual abilities, the exercise of sound judgment, and the prompt completion of all responsibility’s attendant upon responsible activity in the broad field of public health. Integrity, motivation, reliability, self-direction, and the ability to work in diverse groups are personal qualities which are required for effective practice in the field. As a component of public health education, a student must demonstrate ethical behavior.